This month I attended a course on how to lead a workshop for writers, facilitated by Lynn Buckle in The Irish Writers Centre.

Poems forthcoming in Poetry Ireland Review, Prole, The Ofi Press, and Skylight 47, and a new haibun and a haiku sequence accepted for Blithe Spirit by editor Caroline Skanne. My haibun ‘Outlaws’ is in the current issue of Presence.

June 2019

More excerpts from The loneliness of the sasquatch, translated into Romanian by Dr Olimpia Jacob, and published in Convorbiri Literare

Thrilled that two poems from First the Feathers have made their way into fine Australian journals, Backstory and Other Terrain, edited by powerhouse Anne Casey.

Delighted to have two pieces of work at UCD Festival on 8th June – a haiku from Undercurrents is featured as a rain poem, and ‘Canicule’, from First the Feathers, is on the Poetry Wall in the James Joyce Library.

Sunday 19th May I’ll be reading some riverine poems at the Dodder Action Group’s Picnic, Dropping Well Park, Dartry at 3 pm, with Catherine Ann Cullen and Jean O’Brien.

My review of Markievicz: Prison Letters and Rebel Writings is in the May/June issue of Books Ireland.

April 2019

I’ll be reading haiku at Experience Japan in Farmleigh on Sunday 7th. The Haibun Journal, of which I am assistant editor, is being launched on 10 April in The Teachers’ Club, and I’m reading poems from the Leaving Certificate English course in Rathmines College on Friday 12th, along with poets Maeve O’Sullivan, Maurice Devitt, Christine Broe, Simon Coury and Adam Wyeth. After Easter I’m delivering a paper about haibun in UCD’s inaugural AWP conference on Thursday 25th April

March 2019

The loneliness of the sasquatch has been translated into Romanian by Dr Olimpia Jacob, and published in Convorbiri Literare

This month I’m looking forward to Trim Poetry Festival, and delighted to have a poem shortlisted in their poetry competition. I’ll also be giving workshops in Cabinteely and Blackrock Libraries (DLR) and in the Burrow School in Baldoyle.

Workshops this month in DLR libraries:

February 2019

I’m delighted to have some translations in The Bloomsbury Anthology of 110 More Great Indian Poems, edited by Abhay K:

A Romanian translation (by Dr Olimpia Iacob, Associate Professor of Modern Languages at Vasile Goldis West University in Arad, Romania), of an extract from The loneliness of the sasquatch is to be published in Convorbiri Literare.

An extract and the interview from The loneliness of the sasquatch is available on the beautiful Italian-based Margutte website.

A little review of First the Feathers and The loneliness of the sasquatch in the New Books section of the Dublin Review of Books.

Submissions are now open for The Haibun Journal 1.1, under the editorship of Sean O’Connor. I am delighted to be an assistant editor, along with Kim Richardson, publisher with Alba Publishing.

On 7th February I spent an afternoon with a group of students from Lycée Faidherbe in Lille, Northern France. They have been studying Undercurrents with their head of English, and have produced this beautiful book of their own poetry – Grass petals.

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January 2019

This month I travelled to Oslo at the invitation of the Prix de Norvège Society to participate in ‘The New Scream’. This project brought together a group of writers and artists to learn about Edvard Munch’s art and life, and collaborate on a creative project. I am honoured that the Arts Council of Ireland granted me a Training and Travel Award, and look forward to producing new work for a book based on our experiences.

Sitting underneath Per Krohg’s painting in the Grand Café. Edvard Munch is the figure seated behind the bearded man in green.

Also this month, I have new poems appearing in The Northand in Skylight 47, both of which are to launched on 24th January.

On my return I am running some workshops on Psychogeography for secondary school students in DLR libraries. The focus will be on how writers create a sense of place.

December 2018

On Tuesday 11 December the Angle is being launched in the Devlin in Ranelagh. I’m delighted to have work in this journal, which is being sold in aid of the Peter McVerry Trust.

I will be reading in Rathmines Library on 12th December with Catherine Ann Cullen, Maurice Devitt, and Maeve O’Sullivan.

I was delighted to be invited to Oslo in the new year by the Society of the Prix de Norvège, to participate in ‘The New Scream’ project.

November 2018

Some photos from last night’s launch of The loneliness of the sasquatch – me reading from the book; publisher Kim Richardson (Alba) with Dr Lucy Collins (launcher) and myself; Kim with Eithne Rosenstock; Tristan Rosenstock playing Irish airs on the low whistle.

The loneliness of the sasquatch (Alba Publishing) was launched by Dr Lucy Collins in the Teachers’ Club, 36 Parnell Square, at 7pm on 22 November. Here’s a preview in the autumn edition of Harold’s XPress:

More workshops with The Lost Library Book will be taking place in Donabate on 30th November.

October 2018

This month I’m doing lots of visits to libraries in Fingal, talking about The Lost Library Book, designing book plates, and much more!

I’ll be reading ‘The New Road’ at the Redline Book Festival, on Wednesday 10th at the launch of the Red Lines, an anthology of the first five years of the Redline Poetry Competition..

Delighted to have some haiku forthcoming in Blithe Spirit, the BHS Members’ Anthology, and in Wishbone Moon: An Collection of International Women’s Haiku to be launched at Westival at the end of the month.

September 2018

The loneliness of the sasquatch goes to print this month, well on schedule for its launch by Dr Lucy Collins on 22 November in The Teachers Club, 18.30.

I presented a paper about haibun as the new nature writing at the ASLE-UKI conference ‘A Place at the Edge’ in Kirkwall, Orkney, 4-8 September.

My interview and reading on ‘Rhyme and Reason‘ with Helen Dwyer for Dublin South FM, recorded this month, will air at 7pm on Friday 5 October.

August 2018

My poem ‘The New Road’ is to appear in a chapbook of poems placed and shortlisted in the Redline Poetry Competition, and my haibun ‘Wintering’ has been accepted by Haibun Today. Slots for The Lost Library Book workshops are filling up well for the autumn – I’ll be visiting lots of libraries in Fingal.

July 2018

The Interpreter’s House 68 has a review of First the Feathers by Dawn Gorman: ‘This is a powerful collection by a poet whose clear, logical thinking maintains clean control over unusual, thought-provoking subjects. Read it, learn much.’

June 2018

20 June – happy to hear this morning that I have a poem accepted for The Stony Thursday Book No. 16, edited by Nessa O’Mahony.

Really pleased to be reading on the fringe of West Cork Literary Festival, Monday 16th July at 4pm in Organico café, with Poetry Divas Kate Dempsey and Maeve O’Sullivan. I’m taking Martina Evans‘s workshop so it should be a great week.

May 2018

On 31 May I was delighted to be part of the Wild Voices Writers’ Salon curated by the wonderful Annemarie Ní Churreáin. Nine poets and a harpist responding to the words of John Moriarty. It was great treat to read with Karen J. McDonnell, Victoria Kennefick, Alice Kinsella, Faye Boland, James Martyn Joyce, Nicholas McLachlan, Stephen Murphy and Liz Quirke, and harpist Eithne Walsh.

It was an honour to be included in the ‘Blank Page: Poets in Conversation’ series in the National Library on 10 May, where Niall Macmonagle chaired a discussion with me and John O’Donnell about our poetry. We each discussed the process of writing the title poems of our recent collections, First the Feathers, and Sunlight.

My review of Anna Carey’s Mollie on the March is in the current issue of Books Ireland.

I had a very enjoyable evening as Kate Ennals’ guest At the Edge, reading with Rosemary Jenkinson, Stephanie Conn, and Ron Carey in Cavan’s Johnston Library, on 1 May.

April 2018

22 April 2018 – Reading under the cherry tree in Farmleigh on Japan Day with fellow Haiku Ireland members David J.Kelly, Maeve O’Sullivan and Glenda Cimino

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An exciting month ahead, with the launch of Autonomy edited by Kathy D’Arcy, in Books Upstairs on 13 April, reading with Haiku Ireland members in Farmleigh for Japan Day on 22 April, and appearing in Cork World Book Fest at ‘Here, There and In-between’ on 28th April, reading with Robyn Rowland and Cedric Bikond Nkoma

Sunday 25 March – It was a privilege to be shortlisted for the The DLR Shine Strong Award with fine poets Annemarie Ní Churreáin, Erin Fornoff, Elaine Cosgrove, and Rachael Hegarty, author of the winning collection Flightpaths over Finglas.

December 2017

Lovely evening of poetry and music in Rathmines Library with Maurice Devitt, Maeve O’Sullivan and Bernadette NicGabhann.

November 2017

28 November: Great night at the BGEIBAs, many thanks to Listowel Writers’ Week Committee – it was a privilege to have ‘Points’ shortlisted as Irish Poem of the Year, along with John McAuliffe, Tara Bergin, and author of the winning poem Clodagh Beresford-Dunne.

June 2017

23 June – In today’s Irish Times, Frank McNally’s Irishman’s Diary is about Marsh’s Library, the exhibition ‘Hunting Stolen Books’, and The Lost Library Book

Delighted to have a couple of haibun accepted by Christodoulos Makris for Gorse 9

Primary school workshops with The Lost Library Book

The Lost Library Book featured in Sarah Webb’s Children’s Books Summer Special in The Irish Independent on 10 June

May 2017

The Lost Library Book was launched by His Grace, Archbishop Michael Jackson on Saturday 20th May in Marsh’s Library, and sold out all the stock on the day. There are plenty more on the way, and I will be talking about the book at the following venues this month:

18 April – Undercurrents has been awarded joint second prize by the Haiku Society of America for the 2016 Merit Book Award, a.k.a. Kanterman Award

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Sara Keating’s feature in The Irish Times, Saturday 15th April, all about The Lost Library Book:

“[The Lost Library Book is] … romantic in its celebration of knowledge and the artefact of the physical book; an idea that is greatly enhanced by Alice Durand-Wietzel’s romantic illustrations. It is a great story that children, and their parents, will delight in reading, and its happy ending is, indeed, the stuff of fairytales.”

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My poem A Small Attendance in issue 12 of The Incubator, 15th April 2017

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I will be reading in the walled garden in Farmleigh on Japan Day (23rd April) with Haiku Ireland and the Irish Haiku Society, along with fellow Touchstone shortlistee Sean O’Connor, and it is an honour to be launching Sean’s book, Even the Mountains, on Poetry Day (27th April) in The Teachers’ Club, 37 Parnell Square. We are both featured in The Nenagh Guardian this week.

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Brian Hutton’s feature about The Lost Library Book in the local quarterly:

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My poem ‘Cochlea’ in the new issue of Skylight 47

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Honoured that Undercurrents has been shortlisted for the Haiku Foundation’s Touchstone Distinguished Books Award. We have just gone into a third print-run.

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March 2017

I was interviewed by Anna Mooney about being published in your forties, for Aisling Grimley’s excellent website My Second Spring.

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11 March – a great day at The Irish Writers’ Centre for the International Women’s Day Readathon with Women Aloud NI

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My article about The Lost Library Book is featured in the March/April issue of Books Ireland

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The brilliant Numéro Cinq features my childhood memoir in the March edition – read it here:- Bad Weather Days

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February 2017

Reading at Ó Bhéal for the first time on Monday 27th February was a wonderful experience – lovely crowd, great hospitality, and delighted also with this piece by Deasúin MacBraoin in the Evening Echo

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My poem ‘Ghazal of Exodus’ has been accepted by The Stinging Fly, which first published my poetry in 2012.

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Delighted with how The Lost Library Book is looking, and it is now available for preorder from The Onslaught Press.

‘The remarkable true story of a forgotten library book that was returned to Marsh’s Library after 100 years. Written with elegance and grace, it’s a fascinating tale for book lovers young and old.’ – Sarah Webb, Award-winning Writer, and Children’s Curator of the Mountains to the Sea Book Festival

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My poem ‘A Small Attendance’ has been accepted for the April issue of The Incubator.

My childhood memoir piece, ‘Bad Weather Days’, has been accepted by Douglas Glover for publication next spring in Numéro Cinq.

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My haibun about Leonard Cohen and gannets, ‘So Long’, has been accepted for publication by Contemporary Haibun Online later this month.

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Rachel Falconer‘s great collection Kathleen Jamie: Essays and Poems on her Work, in which my essay ‘Transcending the Urban: The Queen of Sheba’ appears, is to be digitised by Edinburgh Scholarship Online.